Matt Skiba Quotes

YouTube is an amazing platform for young musicians - although it's harder to get noticed now that everyone is on it.

I started writing music when I was 15 in my bedroom, and I'd post them on MySpace, and from there it shifted to doing covers on YouTube and building my Twitter.

Listen, we're still selling stardom. That doesn't go away because MTV decides they can't play videos or they want to program themselves more as a traditional T.V. station. Vevo and YouTube are like MTV online, and on demand.

Social media being used to discover new artists is great. There's not a barrier to enter the industry. People can just post music and share it. And if it's good enough, and people like it, it will grow.

When I put out 'Video Games' in May 2011, it was a 5:25-minute love song; I was surprised when a lot of people said they were listening to it. I was surprised when it went to the radio, without me even knowing how something like that even happens!

The possibilities are endless now, with performing, getting your music online, getting your own website and getting your music out there. I think that's very cool and amazing.

Radio and TV can still push a band, but things need to be shaken up. There is the Internet, but mostly what I see there is little kids on YouTube playing music.

How does a band like System of a Down get big?

YouTube provides a unique opportunity for all musicians to market and promote their music and directly engage their fans.

Good bands won't get famous anymore unless they get really lucky.

It's really hard in this day and age, with radio and MTV being so consolidated, to get new music out there. I think we've become a really legitimate, viable avenue for getting new music out there.

It's cool to hear my songs on the radio. But for me, that's just a way to get more people to have the option of choosing my music.

I posted some songs on MySpace, and right away people started asking, 'Where can I get a CD?'

You can put your music out on YouTube and get messages from all over the world.

That's what I love about the Internet - instead of having to wait on radio to play your song or TV to play your video, I can use the Internet as a tool to get my music out earlier.

There's a lot of people out there - like, a lot of people out there - that wouldn't know our music if it wasn't for Spotify.

SiriusXM has been an unbelievable way for us to share music. Songs move a lot faster there than they do on terrestrial, so hopefully we can continue to partner with satellite radio as a way to share as much music as possible with our fans.

It's called 'I Wanna Thank You,' and I'm encouraging everybody out there to blog, Tweet, Facebook, anything about it. Let's sign a petition. The petition is called 'Busta Rhymes Make 'I Wanna Thank You' Your First Single.'

It's so crazy now with the Internet and being able to play shows to people who are actually interested in you. I still feel so lucky when that happens. Things just happen so fast.

My father was interested in bringing reggae music to the entire world.

I hate the industry even more now, no bands get nurtured anymore. Labels only spend money promoting acts they know will be Top Ten. I find it offensive spending $2 million on a video.

If your music is great, you will have fans, not because you have spent time chatting on social media.

I have done a bit of recording and the songs are available on iTunes, and I've got some nice comments. It's something I enjoy doing, but I'm not looking for a singing career any time soon. As long as one person gets enjoyment out of it, I'm happy to make it available.

YouTube was really good for building a kind of core, loyal fanbase. I didn't want to be a YouTube artist as such. I mean, there are people who are able to release albums and live off YouTube, but I felt - and not in an arrogant way - that I could be commercial and credible if I really put my mind to it.

Even though the popularity and the fanbase is much much greater, and more people have heard about me through things like the Grammys and the Ivors and touring and word of mouth, it doesn't reflect in the sales of the record and doesn't go into my pocket.